Couple Seeks Freedom by Downsizing & Living on a Boat

Anna and Kath are a UK couple who work full time in London. In 2016 they downsized their life from a 1-bedroom apartment down to a narrow boat which they live and travel on, full-time, with their 2 cats, Munchkin and Alice.

When their boat is moored, they have access to water and electricity; and when they’re cruising the canals of England and the UK, they have solar panels to trickle charge their batteries and keep things like the fridge and TV running.

They have a multi fuel stove for heat, and an extra radiator in the bedroom although they rarely use it because the stove heats the tiny house so well.

They have a 500 litre water tank for their fresh water needs, and are hoping to invest in a composting toilet so they don’t have to use chemicals in their current cassette toilet.

Anna and Kath have found that they get to spend more time together, and they spend less money now that they’ve adopted a simpler, more minimalist lifestyle.

They still work full-time in London but are working to transition to a digital nomad situation with revenue from their YouTube channel, The Narrowboat Experience, by selling Annamarie’s paintings, and with support on Patreon.

Beautiful DIY Tiny House Build with Massive Custom Patio Door

We saw this DIY off grid tiny house on wheels by the side of the road on our way to PEI for a mini vacation (first one in a long time!). We fell in love with it and had to pull over to film a quick video about it.

We love the garage door wall in the living room that connects the indoor and outdoor spaces, and we love that it’s designed to be completely off-grid with stainless steel water and greywater tanks, a Sun-Mar composting toilet, and propane for heat and hot water. It’s ready to be hooked up to solar panels, too.

This tiny house is for sale in Port Joli, Quebec, Canada for $57,000 CAD (negotiable).

The micro cabin was built on a 3-axle trailer measuring 28 feet long by 8 1/2 feet wide, for a total of 238 square feet.

We had a great afternoon chatting with Jean and his wife Lucie on a beautiful sunny day and it was neat to see how many neighbours and passersby were curious about the tiny house.

They had originally planned to use it as an off-grid cottage but ended up buying a home with a river view instead, which is why they’re now selling the tiny house.

Thanks for watching!

Mat & Danielle

Super Modern Off Grid Tiny House – Full Tour

Patrick and Thomas from the Rewild Homes Team built the Blue Heron tiny house to be completely off-grid with a Morso wood stove, 6 x 285 Watt solar panels, rainwater collection, and a Separett composting toilet.

The house is built on a 24 foot, 2 axle trailer, and it measures approximately 200 square feet.

The roof is gabled, which is a slightly more expensive design than a shed slope roof, but it allows for headroom on both sides of the sleeping loft.

Instead of a ladder, Rewild Homes has been getting lots of requests from their clients for stairs, so they’ve incorporated storage drawes, and they also used the space to store the large solar battery bank above the axles since the batteries weigh close to 1000 lbs.

The solar power system is very large for a tiny house, and they did this primarily because they wanted to run the refrigerator on solar power. They use propane to heat water and for the cooktop.

For ventilation, they have an industrial style ceiling fan to circulate heat and air, and they have a hood fan above the stove, and a vent in the bathroom to help keep humidity levels down.

The exterior of the home is cedar, which can withstand the damp British Columbia climate.

Thanks for watching!

Mat & Danielle

2 Years Living & Traveling in a Van Changed The Course of His Life

We met up with Simon to chat about his 2-year van life trip but we didn’t expect to find out that it had changed the course of his entire life.

Instead of returning to so-called “normal” life after his 2-year trip as planned, Simon is making long term travel his permanent lifestyle and has several large scale travel adventures planned.

First up is a 5-year plan to buy and fix up a used sailboat to try his hand at the liveaboard lifestyle. He wants to sail around the world with some backpacking and motorcycle travel in between.

During his two years on the road, Simon went through one relationship breakup and several mechanical breakdowns. Despite the challenges and discomfort, he says the van life experience changed the way he reacts to things, the way he thinks about himself, and also gave him the skills to make long term travel possible.

To fund his epic road trip, he did photography contracts for Airbnb, wedding photography and other commercial photography contracts, and he also started a YouTube and Patreon page to share his adventures with the internet.

He creates beautiful vlogs about his daily life on the road with his dog, Champ, and most of the footage in this video was taken directly from his vlogs (with Simon’s permission of course!).

 

Thanks for watching!

Mat & Danielle

Camper Van Travel with a Baby – Family Van Life

Andrew, Stacey, and Rowan are a family of 3 who bought a 1999 Volkswagen Vanagon camper van for family adventures. We met up with them at the start of their first month-long adventure around BC and AB Canada when Rowan was just 3 months old.

Andrew and Stacey say they chose a camper van because it was an affordable way for them to travel as a family, and because they couldn’t put Rowan on the back of a motorcycle just yet.

With a van, they’re able to have water, cooking facilities, a bed, space to stand up, and plenty of storage for the baby’s stuff like diapers, blankets, a car seat, etc.

To follow their adventure on Instagram, check them out here:

We filmed this video at the El Campo van gathering in BC, Canada. El Campo van life meet ups are organized by Go-Van and there’s one coming up in Quebec, Canada next month. Check them out here:

Thanks for watching!

Mat & Danielle